Zanotti finds it tough at Knockhill

LOUGHBOROUGH’S superbike challenger, Aaron Zanotti, made the long trip to the Knockhill circuit in Scotland for the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship, where he found the going tough in sometimes torrential and constantly changing conditions.

LOUGHBOROUGH’S superbike challenger, Aaron Zanotti, made the long trip to the Knockhill circuit in Scotland for the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship, where he found the going tough in sometimes torrential and constantly changing conditions.

Zanotti and the Red Viper Racing team were finding it difficult to come up with an ideal setup for his Honda Fireblade at a track that is one of the most technical and the shortest in the championship, but they were victims of pure bad luck when an overheating engine forced the bike into the pits during the wet qualifying session.

As the problem was being rectified the track partially dried, but Aaron was only able to put in a handful of laps in the faster conditions before the end of the 50 minute session.

Starting from 27th Zanotti methodically gained places as the race the track slowly dried. The Red Viper Racing rider consolidated his position and crossed the line in a respectable 17th place.

Race two was red flagged as a short downpour arrived on the sighting lap, briefly delaying the start, but when the grid reformed Aaron started well.

By the 10th lap he had ploughed his way up to 21 place when the red flags came out again, calling a halt to the race for a collision that had felled three riders.

As the race restarted for the third time for a further 20 laps, Zanotti again got away cleanly and in a move that confirmed his wet weather riding skills, rode around the outside of four bikes on the hairpin on the first lap.

He moved up the field to take 14th when he was forced right to the edge of the track in a severe block-pass manoeuvre at Seat Curves at the end of the finish straight and had to take to the grass, falling as the Honda ran into the gravel.

Remounting, Aaron rejoined the race having lost seven places. On lap 14, championship and race leader ‘Shakey’ Byrne crashed out and the red flags again brought the race to a premature end, handing the win to Leon Haslam, Zanotti having to settle for a twenty-third place finish.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” the Loughborough rider commented. “We were unlucky not to get a better qualifying position but we did find a pretty good setup in time and I was able to make up a lot of ground in race one.”

“Race two was chaotic, but I had a good race pace and was challenging for points midway, until I was forced wide on to the slippery, white banding as another bike came alongside just when I needed to be turning in.

“There was nothing I could do but sit it up, feather the back brake, miss the turn and go straight on.

“I could not hold the bike up in the gravel and lost a lot of time. I’m disappointed myself and for the team, because they worked so hard this weekend and the results didn’t reflect how well we were doing.”

Aaron and Red Viper Racing will be travelling to Cadwell Park in Louth for round nine, on August 23-25.